Eberron: Dreaming of Riches

Of how the characters are caught in a crossfire between the Aurum and the Quori

21.7.2013: Massacre

21

JUL/13

It was retconned that Theo and Ravasys actually stayed behind when Ricard came to pick them up since those two had a few too many secrets to risk by participating in an interrogation session. Also, the players had come up with new characters.

As such, Destir ended up being questioned by Ricard and Glan (Surasek) alone. He told them everything he knew about Ryle Galt, Dawkens’s death and the stolen box. Of course, he knew nothing about what was inside it. In the end, Destir volunteered to help people from the Tower regain the box and whatever was found in Irontown. Ricard also assigned on the duty to avenge Dawkens and regain the honor of House Kundarak.

Gwen d’Tharask found Revan and Leon in the library and told them that she had foreseen that the mission to regain the missing item would be of great help to them in their futures and in their respective quests if they were to participate and return alive. She gave them no reassurance concerning their fates if they were to volunteer, though. Both agreed and at that point, Gwen also informed them of the official reward for volunteers, should the mission succeed: they would receive a Limited Wish each. She also told them that Ricard d’Kundarak was waiting downstairs with a bunch of House Medani members.

Destir was told to return to the inn and wait while the Dragonmarked picked members for the quest. To his surprise, Theo and Ravasys had left with some boy earlier. The only volunteers ended up being Revan and Leon. Since Leon wished to pray to Aureon for a divination, and this would take quite some time, Ricard went ahead to keep Destir from becoming unnerved. Leon ended up asking something along the lines of: “Should we succeed in this quest?” Although he meant to ask whether they would succeed or not, Aureon seemed to be displeased by the fiddling, for his answer could be translated as: “Yes, for the fate of the Nations might depend on it.” Leon was clearly frustrated with having chosen his words carelessly and having ran out of time and incense.

The rest of the trackers followed Ricard and met up with Destir. Both Destir and Leon were surprised to have come across each other on the opposite side of the continent than where they became acquainted. They agreed on the half-elves scouting the city for possible clues while the rest would attempt to track down Ryle Galt using his trademark armor as a focus for Revan’s Locate Object spell. Destir described it to him to the best of his ability and Revan managed to imagine the item in sufficient detail to feel it in the East. They followed it for a while but lost track of it eventually, the item having left the scrying area. However, with knowledge about local locations, Leon deduced that Ryle Galt must have headed for the domain of Maher ir’Skylex. He also remembered that the nobleman in question was a known collector of grotesque artifacts, causing Ricard to immediately hold him as the one responsible for the theft of the box.

They followed Galt’s horse’s tracks (as well as the tracks of whoever had gone with him) to the gates of ir’Skylex manor but were turned back by the guard there. However, some diplomacy convinced the guard to try and persuade for an appointment between his master and the trackers the next day. The half-elves had been unsuccessful in their attempts to find any clues.

The next day, the team left early to meet up with Maher ir’Skylex. A different guard greeted them but conceded that the characters had been awaited. However, he sent someone to inform the people at the mansion of their arrival before letting them in. When they arrived and saw Maher’s statue, Leon remembered some more details about Maher and how many facts hinted at him having killed his family to rise to his current position.

Once they went inside, the portcullis dropped to keep them from leaving. Jaive greeted the party, holding Theo, disguised as the late Belenthidas, as a hostage to keep the party from using destructive area effects. He then promised them that there would be no retaliation to avenge them for the beasts of Nightwood would wander here at times, causing sad casualties. Instead, their foolish approach had made it easy for him to massacre them.

Combat ensued. Leon and Revan attempted mind-affecting spells at Jaive but to no avail. Instead, the demon valet’s rapier was snapped in half by Ricard’s Shatter spell, causing the now unarmed demon to retreat. However, he left Theo behind and once Destir, who was convinced that it was really his late friend, tried to untie him, the changeling revealed having faked his capture all this time by dropping his bondage act and sinking his poisoned dagger in Destir’s side. The dragon’s bile affected the psion starkly, causing him to lose control over his body. Theo escaped before the rest could react: however, Ricard shattered his now more or less useless dagger just in case to keep him from finishing Destir off.

They dragged the psion around and finally settled in hiding him under the table of the meeting room while they searched the rest of the mansion. They paid no special attention to the portraits or the quotes. Leon had detected magic in the display room’s door and inside there (as well as in the torches everywhere) so Ricard used dispel on the door before they barged in. However, since they were suspecting a trap and there seemed to be nothing of interest inside, they left the room as it was. They then investigated the dining room and the kitchen and realized all the hints that cannibalism had taken place here. They did not bother with the locked door of the servants’ quarters, instead opting to go downstairs into the cellar.

In the cellar, they searched around a bit to find anything useful but only found the pickled human innards. However, Revan smelled the blood and the urine originating from behind the hidden door which caused Ricard to use his spell to detect hidden doors. He found the secret door, and inside they saw the forest troll and the owlbear. The troll beckoned them to come closer, even going as far as to vomit and show them its treasure. Eventually Revan went too close and was attacked by the choker. While the troll had already started celebrating their catch, the necromancer actually broke free. After firing a few bolts at the monsters, the party simply decided that freeing the troll would be hazardous even if it only meant to escape.

They returned upstairs, and Leon took the lead. When they were returning to the hallway, Jaive ambushed them with the Nine Lives Stealer he had pleaded Maher to lend from his collection. The baron cambion’s brutal attack was stopped short by the archivist’s armor, however. Battle ensued and the three were overwhelmed by Jaive’s simple pattern of stepping to catch up with them and attacking, eventually wearing down the magical defenses of Leon (Sanctuary and Mirror Image) who had managed to summon a Troll Skeleton to fight for them. The undead troll managed to scathe the relentless demon but eventually evaporated without causing serious harm. Meanwhile, Jaive finished the last of Leon’s defensive spells and managed to skewer the archivist. Ricard had escaped upstairs in a desperate attempt to find something helpful. When Leon was killed, Revan followed his example but the demon caught up with him. Before being killed, he managed to see Ricard, whose head had just been split in half by a surprise attack from Ryle Galt.